He Who Lives By The Sword, Shall Die By The Sword
by KatTaya
Summary: A Firefly fanfic based before the movie but not really anywhere in the series. No pairing really just a good old story : Mal has two stalkers - one is trying to kill him the other save him but can he distinguish which one is which? Please read and review
1. Chapter 1

Authors note: Just to warn you all this is my first attempt at a Firefly/Serenity fanfic so please be nice :) I may not have the characters quite right yet so if i don't please leave a review and tell me how i could make it better. But please can it be nice constructive criticism as flames will not help me to write any better. I don't own the characters i am just borrrowing them for a short while.

He who lives by the sword, shall die by the sword

Chapter One

As she watched him fly away she knew she had the power to make the world a better place; all it needed was his death.

Running back to her own ship she powered up the engines and started the chase. His death would bring the end to any rebel attacks on the Alliance. He was the key to it and he had been the key all along. It was just annoying he had a crew aboard his ship to complicate matters; but then again his ship is one of the best for hiding away in and her plan is foolproof. Nearing his vessel she slowed her ship down and was shocked at how easy it was to find him. The bait she had laid down on the planet had worked; only one or two people were left onboard. Getting into the awkward spacesuit was hard work but it was necessary and she didn't want to leave her ship in orbit with no-one aboard but it had to be done. She made her way out of the airlock and leapt across to the other ship.

That stupid pilot will assume that I've gone down to the planet and he'll tell Mal. By the time they realise and come back to their ship it will be too late

She smiled at this thought and what she would do to Mal when she had him alone but as her feet touched the hull her mind cleared of the vendetta to leave her focused on the task at hand. Making her way slowly across the ship she crawled to one of the two access points that would allow her to enter the ship from the hull. What neither she nor Wash saw was the second figure making its way to the second access point.

To Be Continued...


	2. Chapter 2

Authors Note: Hope you enjoyed the first chapter so here's the second...

Chapter two

Down on the planet Mal looked around trying to see what would be of use or importance and failing. There was nothing; and that term was not used lightly. It was rocky, sandy terrain with very little else. There were no buildings and it didn't look like there had ever been.

"This isn't right," Zoë said. "It doesn't feel right".

"She's right," Jayne said. "There's no bloody big gun like I was promised".

Mal nodded and looked across at the doctor and River; who looked extremely bored.

"Captain," Mal heard. "A ship has just joined us up here. I can't tell who owns it; it just seems to be a mish-mash of lots of different ships. I can't even figure out how it's got power let alone flying. There's no-one on board, I think whoever they are have gone down to the planet. Anyway, found what we're looking for yet?"

Mal sighed; it was times like these that really pissed him off. "There's nothing here Wash. We think it's a set-up. Come get us and we can get the hell outta here".

"Alright Captain," came the reply. "Where are you?"

Mal looked across to Zoë for the answer.

"About four kilometres north of where you left us, honey".

While they waited for Wash to bring Serenity to them the two female intruders made their way through the ship.

To Be Continued...


	3. Chapter 3

Authors Note: And here's chapter three - I apologise about the short chapters they will get longer and juicier I promise.

Chapter three

The blonde made her way through the crawl ways to above the engine room. She lay there looking through the grill as Kaylee went about her daily work of looking after the engines and other systems in the ship. Meanwhile, the brunette was making her way through the ship's corridors, avoiding Inara's shuttle. She finally arrived at the location she was looking for – Malcolm Reynolds' room. She pulled out a small black cube and opened the top of it which revealed two metal pins. Inserting these into the locking mechanism she stood back and watched with satisfaction as the door unlocked itself. She picked up the lock pick and made her way down the ladder. Once in, the woman re-locked the door and made herself at home by lying, on her stomach, on his bed facing the ladder. Now all she had to do was wait for him to come find her.

Kaylee was making her way to the cargo room to see the others when something caught her eye; two spacesuits had just been dumped on the floor by the side of the corridor.

"Why do people just leave things where they like on this ship?" she asked herself before putting them in the storage closet down the hall.

Once she had put them away with care she finished making her way to the cargo room. She had heard from Wash that there had been nothing on the planet and that had got her interest. If there had been the weapons cache, that they had been told was down there, that would have made enough money for Kaylee to go on a small shopping spree at the next market town or heavily populated planet they found. But no, she would have to wait a little longer for that small luxury.

The six who were on the planet were now back onboard and made their way, along with Kaylee and Inara to the bridge to discuss what had happened. They stood in the small room waiting for Mal to say something. Eventually he did; "shit!"

"What happened?" Inara asked her curiosity aroused.

"There was nothing there," Zoë replied. "Absolutely nothing".

There was a long pause as everyone took in the fact that yet again they would not be making a business deal and money was running low.

"It was a god-damn set up," Jayne said after a while.

"You watch who you're damning," Book said.

Jayne pulled a face and carried on talking, "probably wanted to kill us".

"Who?" Kaylee asked looking concerned that this might be somebody who would search for them without giving up till everyone was dead.

"The other ship," Wash said. "There was nobody aboard it. Don't know when it got here but it was after us. They must have gone down to the planet to find you".

Mal nodded. "Right, Wash make sure we're not being followed. Kaylee, keep an eye on the engines. Someone get me when we reach civilisation and no-one disturb me before then".

With that short speech Mal walked out of the room and to his own. Unbeknownst to him a female figure was following him.

To Be Continued...


	4. Chapter 4

Authors Note:- we'll now be getting more into it so hopefully the chapters will be getting better - o and there is some good old chinese swearing in here so if you are curious as to what they were just drop me a small review and i'll let you know. Also denotes thought.

Chapter four

Mal sighed with frustration as he made his way down the ladder to find a brunette woman lying on his bed. He pulled his gun out and stood staring at her. After a few seconds he broke the silence.

"Give me one damn good reason not to shoot you and I'll think about not killing you".

The woman smiled and sat up, "I'm unarmed; all my weapons are to your left".

Mall looked at the array of small guns, all with the ammo separate, and knives. He saw a long sword and a big rifle.

"Impressive," Mal couldn't help but be impressed by this collection. "Where do you keep them all?" He asked looking at the tank top and leather trousers the woman was wearing.

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

Mal shook his head at the young woman's audacity but put his gun away.

"You should be glad I didn't get Jayne in here".

She stood up, walked over to where Mal was standing and grabbed the utility belt with ammo in that the Captain hadn't seen. She fixed it round her waist before putting all the knives and guns back into place. The belt then attached to loops on the shoulders of the tank top allowing the sword to be slid into place on her back beside all the ammo.

"I need to speak with you and your crew," she said looking at the man to her left. It involves what you found, or rather in this case, didn't find on that planet you just visited".

Mal's eyes widened slightly, "how do you know about that? And anyway, why should I trust you? You could just gun us down with all that," he said indicating the armaments around her body.

A sigh and a pointed look was all Mal got in reply as she made her way back up the ladder.

"Ta ma de!" Mal exclaimed before following her up.

"Mal, who's this?" was the first thing he heard as he stepped out into the corridor.

The scene before him would have been laughable if he knew who this strange woman actually was and if she could be trusted. Jayne was flat on his back with one of the boot-clad feet of said woman on his chest, with all her weapons still holstered, and Jayne actually looked slightly scared.

"She's hot," Jayne added. With this comment came the heel of a boot press down on his throat with increasing pressure.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Mal said hurriedly pulling the woman back so that Jayne could breathe and get up. "Jayne this is…um…what the cao is your name?"

The woman gave Jayne a glare before turning to Mal, "my name is Angeni".

While this exchange was taking place the blonde woman had caught up with them and was listening, carefully hidden. She smiled at the knowledge that Angeni was onboard.

I can get rid of the rebel and the freedom fighter together; not bad for a days work

To Be Continued...


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter five

Angeni stood leaning against the food counter and surveyed the people around her. To her very left was Kaylee; who has been the most welcoming to her. So far she'd been very interested in her clothing and how she could survive being alone for so long. Standing just further on from Kaylee was Inara, the companion, who seemed to be watching everyone just like Angeni. Inara hadn't really spoken to her and it seemed that she wasn't likely to anyway; almost like she was jealous of something. Sheppard Book was sitting down on a chair with his back towards them. It was obvious he disapproved of an occupation where to get payment one had to kill; then again he had chosen to stay onboard with 'criminals'. Sitting next to him was River, a wild child who needed control but a brilliant fighter when she wanted to be. Angeni knew this but she didn't want to really talk to her. All she could talk about were her experiences and they would most likely set the poor girl off. Next to her was her brother. Simon was loyal; Angeni gave him credit for that but she knew that he was misguided and his unresolved feelings for Kaylee would put him in jeopardy one day soon. Now, Wash and Zoe knew how to play it. They could fight people and get the job done even if they were thinking about each other. They were sitting to Angeni's right and it was obvious that they loved each other but they still had everything around them under control, unlike Simon. Her eyes then connected to the brown ones of Jayne. He had been looking at her since she had flattened him. She didn't know if it was out of respect or admiration that she had been able to flatten him or that he just wanted her to pay for it and satisfy his lust. Angeni winked at him with a beautiful hazel eye before looking at the man standing at the head of the table facing towards the crew; Captain Malcolm Reynolds. Now, he was someone that she wouldn't mind satisfying. He had the commanding presence, good legs, decent enough muscles and the face just topped it off. But she wasn't here for that. She had a job to do and she hoped that the crew of Serenity would help her. She sighed and walked to sit on Mal's right; no way I'm going to sit with Jayne she thought.

"Right then," Mal started. "We know that what we found on the planet ain't right and when we left this woman appeared among us".

Angeni smiled at everyone in the room before crossing her legs and looking back at Mal.

"I don't need to listen to this!" Inara suddenly stated. She thinks she can waltz in here and get Mal to do what she wants. Well he doesn't listen to me a lot of the time so why is he going to listen to her? Stupid bitch! She stormed off back to her shuttle. A shadow followed her to the shuttle and when the doors opened Inara found herself flat on the floor.

"Sorry," the voice above her said. "I normally have respect for companions."

Inara felt a large swell of pain and entered into the blackness. She was thrown out of the doorway and the blonde woman started up the engines before making her way away from the ship.

"No," River said before grabbing the side of her head. "Pain, awful pain," she pushed back from the table, knocking over the chair, and pushing the people away from her. After about half a minute Simon calmed her down and looking at the Captain, who was still standing at the head of the table, walked out with River.

"I'm going to make sure she's alright," Kaylee said before falling the doctor and his sister. Wash, Zoe and Sheppard all sat down again, Book giving a pointed look at Jayne, who like the Captain and Angeni, hadn't moved during River's outburst.

"Gorram it," Jayne said. "What the cao was that about?"

"I don't know but let's continue." Mal turned to Angeni, "so what is so vitally important that you need to stowaway on my boat for?"

Angeni re-crossed her legs and began to inform them of what she did…

...Begin flashback...

She was running. She wasn't sure what from exactly but she knew she had to run. Then it hit her; the Alliance were doing this. They were destroying people's homes, ripping apart families and spreading fear. The only fear this teenage girl had experienced was hearing stories about the Reavers. It was at this point that two men joined her in running; she knew she could trust them. She didn't know where this trust came from but she just knew she should go with them. She ran with them till they reached a cave where they slowed down and Angeni followed them cautiously into the dark tunnel lit only by occasional torches. The tunnel opened out into a large cavern where just around a dozen more people were sitting on the sandy floor. They were forming a band of people; freedom fighters. They taught her how to survive alone and how to find work and payment from people who would want particular alliance operatives dead. Once she was taught that killing alliance members wasn't morally evil it started to come naturally to her. She was almost a natural born killer.

...End flashback...

…"and they taught me about the secret agents the alliance have whose job it is to stop people like us from surviving; the best of which I am tracking at the moment. My payment is large if I can deliver the body; I found her with plans to destroy you and your ship. I thought we could work together seen as you dislike the alliance."

Angeni looked across at Jayne who she knew had been staring at her through her long speech.

"So you are basically a bounty hunter?" Wash asked.

"Yes," she replied not taking her eyes off of Jayne.

"Cool, is the pay better than what we do? OW!" Wash exclaimed at the punch to his arm by Zoe.

"How do we know that we can trust you?" Mal asked.

Angeni turned her head and looked straight into his eyes, "you don't".

Mal nodded, "fine. You do what you need to do and we'll help, but step one toe out of line or do anything I think is a threat to me or my crew and I'll shoot you".

Angeni smiled and sighed letting out the breath she hadn't realised that she had been holding in.

At least I have his approval, which will make things a lot easier

To Be Continued...


End file.
